February 10, 2013

Selling: Why the connected, high profile in media aren't closing

Every era has its delusions. One pervasive one in the digital era pumped up on media of all kinds is that being connected and having a media presence will guarantee success. Increasingly, the well connected whose names appear in the press are not succeeding because they cannot close the sale.

Networking and establishing a brandname are smart marketing tactics. The prospects will come. They will ask you to present yourself. That's, as the old saying indicates, where the rubber meets the road. That's where you make the sale or don't make the sale.

Why you're not making the sale is usually because of one or more of the following mistakes:

Not finding out customer/client needs. At this point the process has to move from you to them. The lion's share of the time invested should be on what they really need. That might not be obvious. That's why you must ask questions, listen, sum up to check if you're on the right track.

Not digging for what's blocking the close. Here you do a trial close, such as asking if all the issues have been addressed, the price is okay, and the other terms and conditions seem in place. But the prospect doesn't move forward. Here you ask, sometimes indirectly, sometimes directly, what it would take to get the sale. Admittedly, some prospects make a hobby of going around kicking tires, with no intention to buy. However, you should have identified that type by now and not have reached this point in the process since they drain your soul.

Not reframing. Fresh starts can get the selling process back on track. If the prospect is backing off from buying X, the flexible salesperson presents Y, with added incentives. This often works because the prospect picks up on the energy, which should have no sign of desperation.

In short, marketing is separate from selling. Once there is a prospect, everything shifts from you to that person who will buy or not buy.